Next Event is the Lagan Scullers Head of the River in Belfast on 21 March 2015

Recent results

Erne Head of the River 28 February 2015Overall winners were DUBC in record time.
Portora won the MJ18 8s, WJ18 8s, WJ16 8s, all in record time, and were third in the MJ16 8s. Portora also won the WJ18 4+ event.

Lagan Head of the River 7 February 2015

Portora Boat Club won:

Mens' J18 eights

Womens' J18 eights

Womens' J16 eights

Mens' J18 quads

Mens' J16 fours

Womens' J16 quads

Womens' J16 fours

Irish Indoor Rowing Championships, Limerick 24 January 2015.

Results from the top end of the Club:

Men's J18

Portora 1st (out of an entry of over 100)

Women's J18

Portora 2nd with five Portora girls in the top 20

Men's J16

Portora 1st and 2nd, with four Portora boys in the top 10

Women's J16

Portora 2nd, with four Portora girls in the top 20.

Next Event: Lagan Head 7 February 2015

Carrick on Shannon Head on 6 December 2014

Neptune Head; Blessington, 8 November 2014Senior members of the Club raced in extremely wet and cold conditions in the two races at Neptune Head and there were good wins in the Boy's Junior 18 Quad, Girl's Junior 18 Quad, Boy's Junior 18 4+, Girl's Senior 2-, and Boys Junior single (Ewan Murray).

Irish Championships 11, 12, 13 July Farran Wood, Cork

The Portora rowers were on top form at the Irish Championships. All the hard work of the oarsmen, oarswomen and the team of coaches paid off with three golds, three silvers and a bronze in the major events at Junior 18 and Junior 16. The three silver medallists all missed gold by less than half a length in some of the closest and most exciting races of the regatta.

The Club entered five eights events, won three of them and were second in the other two, an astonishing set of results.

J18 women: Silver in Junior eights, and a Silver in Club eights (a new event)

J16 men: Gold in eights

J16 women: Gold in eights, with the second crew getting bronze

Boys J16 8 Irish Champions 2014

Boys J18 8 Irish Champions 2014

Old Portorans were prominent in two good performances by Trinity who won the Intermediate eights and led the Senior eights to the 1950 meter point before being overtaken in the dash for the line by NUIG. The bow in the DUBC crew was OP Alex McIlroy, and the crew was coached by Nick Dunlop who won the Junior eights in 1976 and Junior Fours in 1977.

Marlow Regatta and Women's Henley 21 June 2013The boys first eight will be rowing in the Schools' Eights event at Marlow while the girls will be competing at Women's Henley in the Junior Fours and Junior 16 Fours. Support at either event will be very welcome.Athlone Rgatta 14 June 2013
The Club took 93 rowers to the event had possibly its most successful day ever at Athlone in winning eleven events. Wins were achieved in six eights events: MJ18 8, WJ18 8, MJ16 8, WJ16 8, MJ15 8, WJ15 8 as well as the MJ18 4, WJ18 4, WI 4,MJ14 1x and the WJ15 2x. Portora won the trophy for the most successful club at the regatta.Queen's Rowing Races 7 June 2013
Portora won the MJ18 eight an MJ16 eight at this event on the Lagan. The WJ18 8 lost to Bann by one foot!

Heads of the River
All the major Heads of the River (including the Erne) were cancelled due to the high level of water and strong stream caused by the incessant rain.

Sligo Head Saturday 25 January 2014
Portora Boat Club will be well represented at this event. There are two races, one at 12.30 and the second at 3.30 and supporters of the Club will be very welcome. The next event to be attended by the Club will be the Head at Carrick-on-Shannon on 8 February.Neptune Head, Blessington, 9 November 2013
The first event of the 2013/14 season was Neptune Head of the River held at Blessing ton Lake on Saturday 9 November 2013. Portora crews acquittted themselves very well winning five events.
The Men's J18 8 won their event in a time only one second slower than the time for the Men's Intermediate 8, and the Women's J18 8 also won their event in a time 35 seconds faster than the time for the Women's Intermediate 8.
At Junior 16 level, both the Men's and Women's eights had comfortable victories, with the Men's J16 quadruple scull also adding to the tally of wins. Irish Rowing Champuionships held at Farran Wood, Cork, 18, 19, 20 July 2013

The Boat Club had its most successful Championship Regatta for at least 25 years.

The Club won silver medals in both the Men's and Women's Junior 18 eights with very young crews (four of the men's crew and six of the women's crew will be back next year), and won gold medals both in the Men's and Women's Junior 16 eights. Portora were thus first or second in all four of the eights events for Junior rowers.

The Club won the gold medal in the Women's Junior 18 pairs for the first time since 1985 when the event was held for the first time and was won by Leigh Cordiner and Jayne McCartney.

As well as these medals, Portora won two more golds, two silvers and a bronze.

These superb results are a reflection of the coaching skills and dedication of Derek Holland and his team of coaches: Dave Ewart, Shauna McMorrow, Iain Kennedy, Patrick Madigan, Gerry Murphy, Keith Nixon and Leo Murphy. The magnificent new boathouse and upgraded facilities have also undoubtedly played a part in these results.

Opening of the New Boathouse
The new Boat House was opened on 22 June 2013 by Dr. Michael West (OP) and the event was attended by over 200 friends and supporters.

Athlone Regatta
This regatta was cancelled due to high winds.

Belfast Boat Races
On 8 June Portora won all three races open to Juniors at this event. Portora won the MJ18 eights, the WJ18 eights and the MJ16 eights.

Portadown Regatta This Regattatook place on 4 May in blustery conditions which made getting on to the stake boats difficult. Portora Boat Club had six wins in MJ18 doubles, MJ15 eight and quad, WN eight, WJ16 eight and WJ15 Eight. The MJ18 four were second in the final of their event to as very good crew from RBAI.
Queen's RegattaThis regatta was held in almost perfect conditions on Castlewellan Lake. It was a grand League Regatta so there were visiting crews from all the four provinces of Ireland.
Portora had wins in the MJ16 eight, the WJ18 eight and four, and the WJ16 eight and four; the MJ18 four finished second behind a very strong Galway RC four.

Trinity Regatta 20 April 2013The Boat Club had a very successful outing to Trinity Regatta. Seventy rowers made the journey to Dublin and there were wins for the Men's J16 eight, the Men's J16 eight, the Women's J18 four and the Women's J18 eight
London Head of the River 2013

After a busy weekend of racing, which saw the Boat Club at Portora walk away with the award for the top junior club at the Erne Head, there was no time to rest as the top end of the club travelled across the water to compete at the London Schools Head of the River.

Two boys crews and four girls crews competed for Portora in a race which saw over three hundred boats from across the UK time trial down 6.8km of the Thames.

The boys J16 8 were the first crew home for Portora and they set the standard for the Enniskillen club. Stroked by Ewan Murray, powered by Karl Anderson, Tom Mills, Josh Kennedy, Barney Rix, Alistair Crawford, Chris Irvine, Jamie Gibson and coxed by Evan McClean, this boys crew went into the race knowing they had the potential to get a good result. They were against some of the top schools in England, where student populations are much bigger, thus offering a greater pool of athletes. The fact that they came out of the race sitting in fourth place in their category will be a great boost to the boys, showing that with hard work and determination, they can compete with larger clubs and still come out on top. In the overall rankings, they finished 36th overall, which is a big achievement for the Boat Club.

The girls in the J16 8 were not going to let the side down either. The crew, made up of Alice Beacom, Chloe Finlayson, Emma Glover, Elizabeth Clarke, Eimer Daly, Sophie O’Dolan, Carrie McShea, Orla McConville and coxed by Zoe Donaldson stormed down the course and they too took fourth position in their group. Races like this should give them confidence against more local opposition in the coming weeks.
The boys J15 8 and the girls J15 8 B crew both came 9th within their categories, a sign that the hard work which all the athletes have put in over winter is starting to pay off. With more time on the water, these crews will certainly do damage during the summer season.

The womens J18 coxless quad, of Phoebe Mulligan, Elisha Timoney, Rachel Nixon and Dineka Maguire came 12th in their group. Though a little further down the listings than they would have liked, this is a speedy crew, who were perhaps only bested because of the other crew’s knowledge of the Thames.

The girls J15 8 A crew were to be disappointed when they couldn’t race because of an equipment problem, but in sport, as the saying goes, it is not how we handle victory, but defeat, which is important. With lots of racing to look forward to in the coming weeks, the girls will no doubt bounce back to show themselves, and the rest of the club, just what they could have achieved in London.

Some of Enniskillen’s rowing alumni raced in the womens Head on the Saturday after the Schools Head. Madeleine Kelly rowed for Thames, whilst Jill Thornton represented Queen’s University. Leonora Kennedy and her crew, Imperial College BC, walked away with the top prize of the day. Leonora, who is supported by the Mary Peters Trust, stroked the boat to its first every victory in this race, which they finished in style, finishing a massive 16 seconds ahead of second place overall.

Overall, it was a successful trip to London School’s Head. The promising results achieved should spur on the athletes at Portora Boat Club to keep training hard, and to show the younger members of the club that if they put in that same effort, they could be challenging schools across the water next year as well.

On a day which started out cold and overcast, but which ended mild and bright, the athletes from the Boat Club at Portora Royal School made the trip to Belfast to compete at the Lagan Head. The day was split into two races, the shorter 2700metres race taking place in the morning, and the longer 2400 metres, in the afternoon.

Both races were to see successes for the club. In the first race, the men’s J15 eight, of Ben Irwin, Euan Gebler, Conor Blackwell-Smyth, Aaron Johnston, Jonah Carty, Callum Baker, James Foster, Ethan Huey and coxed by Evan McClean, made a strong start and powered down the course. They finished top of their category with a strong time of 11.54.8, beating off closest rivals Bann BC by over a minute.

The MJ18 4X-, of Karl Anderson, Ewan Murray, Barney Rix and Tom Mills put in a good race as well, though they came second to a racy Neptune RC crew, and with some more time to work on technique on the water, they will no doubt look forward to meeting Neptune again. Gerry Murphy finished up the mornings racing for Portora with a positive note as he took the pole position in his category.

The afternoon was to produce some great results as well, with some very close times. The MJ18 8, of Ewan Murray, Karl Anderson, Barney Rix, Tom Mills, Ben Irwin, Alistair Crawford, Chris Irvine, late addition Euan Gebler and cox Evan McClean, were to give one of the closest results of the day, falling just three seconds short of first place, behind a quick Neptune crew.

The WJ18 8 showed the younger members of the club how it was done, as they took fastest junior women’s crew of the day. Stroked by Chloe Finlayson, backed by Emma Glover, Phoebe Mulligan, Elizabeth Clarke, Orla McConville, Sophie O’Dolan, Carrie McShea, Jane Willis and coxed by Chloe McClean, the girls started their race strong and never let the pace drop the whole way down the course.

The second race was to see the comeback of Dave Ewart and Gary Thornton to competitive rowing, as they joined with Coleraine in the MS4-. Spurred on by the hard work of the athletes in the first race, they put in a good race to finish in the top ten of the afternoon.

With a successful day under their belts, Portora will be turning their attention to the next big race on the rowing calendar, which Portora Boat Club will be hosting; the Erne Head, taking place on the 2nd of March. With just two weeks to go, the athletes will be looking to come out fighting on their home water, and the next two weeks of training will be crucial to see them take the top positions.

SLIGO HEAD OF RIVER 26th Jan

THE WIND and the rain which battered the west coast over the weekend did little to dampen the spirits of the 60 athletes from Portora Boat Club, who made their way to Sligo to compete in the 3.5km Sligo Head of the River on Saturday.

This was the first race of the new year, and with plenty of hard work having gone on behind the scenes over the winter months, Portora were looking to lay down a positive template for the rest of the season.

They did this in some style, as three of the crews powered their way into the top ten crews overall.

First across the line for the Boat Club was the J18 double of Karl Anderson and Ewan Murray, coming in seventh overall and winning their category.

The women’s J16 8, made up of Alice Beacom, Emma Glover, Chloe Finlayson, Elizabeth Clarke, Eimer Daly, Carrie McShea, Orla McConville and Sophie O’Dolan, and coxed by Zoe Donaldson came in just behind the double, giving the spectators on the banks plenty to talk about with a powerful display that saw them also win their category.

The men’s J16 quad of Chris Irvine, Ben Irwin, Barney Rix, Euan Gebler and cox Evan McClean topped their group when they came in over half a minute ahead of St Joeseph’s.

The second J16 quad, of Gareth Mayers, Conor Blackwell-Smyth, Callum Baker and Jonah Carty produced a good row to come third in the group, and with a little more time on the water, should move up the rankings as the year goes on.